Habitual Hurt
by Tsunade's Apprentice
Summary: As happy and cheerful as Naruto is, no one can be like that 24/7. This is a brief glimpse of some of the pain he must suffer and also the POV of others, whether they're totally oblivious, helpful or lost for what to do. Contains self harm.
1. Genin Days

Konichiwa!

Right, this was done on my phone at stupid o'clock so please be a little lenient.

Its an idea that's been floating in my head for a while but only in fragments and I'm not usually all that good at puting fragments together. But I'm being hopeful and giving this a shot! I'm thinking of adding a few more chapters as and when because I think there's a lot more to Naruto than we see in the manga and there's lots of time frames and arcs to look at...

This is my first attempt at self harm in the writing sense and I've tried, very briefly, to capture some of the emotion behind it. It's certainly not comprehensive but I hope that it'll give people who've never experienced it a glimpse of the truth and for those who've been there a big loud "you're not alone!"

If you feel this ought to be M rated, let me know and I'll change it.

**Disclaimer:... my names not Kishimoto... draw your own conclusions...**

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><p>Another day of missions completed and it was time for some food!<p>

"Ne, Sakura-chan? D'you wanna come to Ichiraku's with me? It'll be like a da-"

"Only if Sasuke-kun's going" Sakura interrupted, turning in the black haired genin's direction awaiting a response. Sasuke, however had already begun walking home, clearly displaying his lack of interest in his team mates' antics.

Seeing this, Sakura ran after 'her Sasuke-kun', inviting him on a date but receiving only silence in return. Not one to be deterred, the pink haired kunoichi continued in her endeavours as she and Sasuke rounded a corner and disappeared from view, leaving Naruto watching after them.

Returning his attention to his only remaining team mate, Naruto extended the same invitation to his masked sensei. Minus the date he'd have you know!

"Gomen, Naruto, I have to go report to Hokage-sama. Maybe another time." With that the older man vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Just me then!" Naruto told himself and headed off to his favourite ramen stand.

Walking into his empty apartment later that night, Naruto removed his coat and surveyed the damage his arms had received during the day's mission.

It had been another Pet-Retrieval, nothing exciting or dangerous but the young blonde had learned early on that a branch could be equally as vicious as the sharpest shinobi tool when scraping along soft flesh. The welts and cuts on his arms were merely further proof of this.

With a sigh Naruto headed into the bathroom, removing cotton wool and antiseptic from the cupboard and beginning the regular routine of cleaning his wounds.

As he worked, his mind began to drift back over the day. It really had been typical, Sasuke had ignored him while Sakura reiterated his list of faults and failings, primarily that his name wasn't Uchiha Sasuke. Then, for a change of pace, Sakura ignored him while Sasuke had called him names. Kakashi-sensei had read his book.

This had then repeated itself a number of times in various different orders and with the occasional addition of Sakura teaming up with Sasuke whenever Naruto had said anything.

When he'd suggested they eat together after the mission, all three of them had disappeared almost faster than the poor Jinjuriki could blink.

The villagers...

They were the same as yesterday. And last week. Last year too.

To them he was nothing more than a demon walking unwanted through their streets, polluting and corrupting their homes with his presence.

Hissing slightly as he began cleaning a particularly deep cut, Naruto was dragged back from his thoughts.

Wetting another ball of cotton wool with antiseptic, Naruto let the burning subside before cleaning the wound more thoroughly.

The pain was a welcoming distraction as he rubbed the course cotton wool harshly across the tender pink flesh and the antiseptic sent a fresh wave of fire rushing up his arm.

Soothing, that was what it was.

Naruto opened his eyes and took in the number of scratches on his arms. Too many to count at a glance.

Good.

Reaching into the kunai holster strapped to his leg, the young teen withdrew one of the sharp blades and brought it up to eye level.

The dark metal was truly beautiful. Unmoving. Unfeeling. It's sharp, polished edges gleaming in the fluorescent lighting.

Naruto envied this tool. If only he could be as emotionless as this piece of metal, he'd never have to feel his heart withering at the names and insults, the unshed tears that burned behind his eyes eyes each night as he lay in bed.

Drawing the blade across the soft skin of his forearm, Naruto let the familiar feeling begin to numb the ache in his chest but it was over too soon.

Repeating the action several more times the genin felt his inner turmoil begin to settle although it wasn't gone.

Reaching for the antiseptic and pouring it onto the new wounds, a familiar thought crossed his mind. An echo, the faintest whisper that ~this is wrong. Society doesn't accept this.~

Where the thought had come from in the first place Naruto didn't know. After all, he'd never had anyone to say such things to him. The villagers had beaten him regularly during his childhood, told him again and again that he deserved the pain.

As a result this thought had shocked him the first time. Now it merely added to the satisfaction.

This pain, this burn, it was _his_, his and no one else's. Nobody else had done this to him, even if they did it would never be the same. This pain was amazing, sweet as honey on his tongue and more real than anything any one else had ever done. Unlike any other pain, this pain meant something. Something intensely private. Something he'd been lacking and craving for too many years.

Control.

It wasn't about the blood although there was a grim satisfaction to be found in watching the rivulets running across his skin. It was about the feeling. One of the few real things in his life


	2. Sasuke

Well, I've had a bit of an idea... A few of you said that you wanted to see people's reactions and feelings etc etc. But, because I wanted to look at different points in the manga/anime I couldn't have everyone find out all at once, since that way I'd have to do it before I reached the current arc to have all of them. So, I have a compromise: for each chapter I do focusing on Naruto, I'm going to try and do one for one other character. They may or may not find out about Naruto self harming or how he's feeling, they may be completely oblivious...

This time... Sasuke. It's a bit short...

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favourited and alerted, you made my day! I hope this lives up to your expectations!

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><p><p>

Today had been yet another pointless mission. Sasuke couldn't see why the Hokage expected them to waste their time doing D ranks, when they'd all be much better served training or taking on more challenging missions.

Really, he still wasn't too pleased that he'd even been put on the same team as Naruto and Sakura. The pink haired Kunoichi new the theory, sure, but she had no skill and Naruto? He was just useless as a shinobi. He hadn't really given his potential team mates much thought at the academy but he was still of the impression that he could, at least, have been given two less hindering team mates.

Today was the perfect example. It had taken them hours to catch the stupid escaped bird because of all the noise Naruto and Sakura had been making. When they'd finally finished, rather than letting him go train, Naruto had wanted them to go for ramen! Why would he want to do that? Unlike those two, he had something he had to achieve, he had to train.

Suffice to say, he'd left immediately, Sakura trailing along behind. That would show the dobe what he thought of that idea.

The next morning, Sasuke couldn't help but notice that Naruto's arms seemed far more scratched up than they were when they'd finished their mission yesterday. Stupid dobe, he couldn't do even go home without getting injured... What a pain.


	3. Aftermath Interlude

Here's chapter 3, set at the end of the sound 5 arc.

Thank you to all of you who reviewed, favourited and alerted this story, I love you all!

A big thank you to Kittylynz for beta-ing although she's never read so much as a word of Naruto and puts up with me rabbiting on about it!

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><p><p>

The feeling of blood running down his back and chest was warm and sticky, a sharp contrast to the cold wet of his clothes. His head felt sluggish and foggy, limiting his awareness to the warm body carrying him, the spiky grey hair tickling his face and, more than anything else, the intense pain in his chest which became worse with every shiver of his too cold body.

All he could remember was waking up like this, on this person's back. Although he knew who it was he couldn't seem to call up a name. How had he gotten like this? It seemed like something important had happened but the memories were just out of reach...

...

Where were... _they..._? His team mates? Sa... Sakura-chan... Sasuke... -teme...?

This was his sensei, he knew that now, but he still couldn't remember a name, his clouded brain unable to recall more than a few short memories. Why weren't the others here? Were they injured too? Who had he even been fighting? All that came back were short flashes of black hair, lightening, a blue shirt. Sasuke had been there. But why... Why did it seem as if Sasuke had been the one attacking him?

Sasuke had used... Chidori on him... No, it hadn't been Sasuke. Sasuke's skin was paler than the person fighting him, he didn't have that big, hand-like wing, he wouldn't have attacked him. And yet, it had to have been Sasuke, no one else had the Sharingan. It just didn't make sense. Sasuke had attacked him.

With this thought, the fight came back to him. Naruto had been sent on a mission to retrieve Sasuke, led by Shikamaru. The others had stayed behind to fight Orochimaru's shinobi. None of them had caught up despite their promises to do so and the young blonde didn't want to think of what this may mean, instead he focused on unpicking his muddled thoughts, trying to understand how he'd come to be fighting his best friend.

He'd caught up with Sasuke in the valley with the statues, had tried to persuade the raven haired boy to go back with him, not to go to Orochimaru. Sasuke had refused and they'd fought. The fight had gotten more and more out of hand until Sasuke gave in to the Cursed Seal and Naruto had lost his temper enough to call upon the Kyuubi's chakra.

The fight ended when they both used their most powerful techniques. Naruto had never expected Sasuke to attack him with true killing intent and had been unable to strengthen his rasengan enough to block Sasuke's attack.

Sasuke had gotten away.

He, Naruto, had broken his promise.

Two weeks had passed since that night and Naruto had finally been released from the hospital in order to prepare to leave with Jiraiya. But now, sitting by himself in his apartment, a half packed rucksack on the bed in front of him, he couldn't escape the thoughts that had been haunting him since that night.

While he was in the hospital Sakura had visited. She hadn't even been able to look him in the eyes and that had been all he needed to know.

He had known that he should never expect her to care about him but that hadn't stopped him hoping. He'd thought that, if he could bring Sasuke back, if he could keep his promise to her, she might begin to see him differently, to recognise him as an equal rather than the thorn-in-her-side he currently represented to her. Instead of being the person who was always in the way, he wanted to be her friend. Sasuke's too.

Now Sasuke was gone and Sakura would never believe in him again. He hadn't seen Kakashi-sensei since the night of the fight – yet another person he'd let down.

He'd be glad when he got out of the village. He needed to get away from his fellow rookies and their alternately sympathetic or accusing looks but to do that he had to finish packing his bag.

Working with deliberate slowness, Naruto packed his clothes, scrolls and emergency ramen supplies before turning to his newly restocked weapons pouch.

Maybe, he _could_ avoid these thoughts a little longer. After all, it had taken some time after the fight for the effects of the blood loss to wear off and really, what were a few more cuts on an already beaten up and clumsy genin?

That thought in mind, he picked up a kunai and chose sweet, if fleeting, oblivion.


	4. Lonely Nights

Well, here's an update for you guys, I hope you like XD

Thank you to all of you who reviewed, favourited and alerted!

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><p><p>

**Habitual Hurt**

**Chapter 4**

The sharp burn of the kunai biting into the flesh of his shoulder was...

Agonizing?

Sickening?

Sweet?

A tangible embodiment of the tearing pain in his chest.

If anyone had asked him where the pain came from (had even noticed that he_ was _in pain), what it felt like, Naruto wouldn't have been able to answer. It was both a suffocating sensation, crushing his lungs and constricting his heart while simultaneously being a gaping void, threatening to engulf him or to make him explode. It filled his chest, muddled his mind, coiled itself ever tighter in his chest while forcing its way out in strangled gasps and sobs.

There was no cause, no trigger. There had been once but now... it was routine, the only way his mind could cope with the emotions threatening to tear his sanity from him. At first it had been Sasuke's betrayal. Sakura's dismissal of him as a person, the accusation in her eyes for failing to bring Sasuke back. Kakashi-sensei passing him on to be taught by anyone but himself. The fear and hatred in the villagers' eyes when he himself felt like as much of a victim as any of those injured or killed in the Kyuubi's attack.

He shouldn't complain. If Kakashi had trained him he would possibly never have met Ero-sennin. As far as teachers - _human beings_ went, Jiraiya could be said to be lacking. While Naruto had been learning rasengan, pouring his all into mastering each step of the technique, Jiraiya had been clear that Naruto shouldn't expect help from him. Jiraiya had checked in every few days to check that the genin was still alive and had then returned to his 'data gathering', swiftly forgetting his young charge once again.

At first Naruto had been hurt, _angry_ at the older man for his disregard, then perplexed when the white haired man had turned up with the very ice that Naruto had imagined sharing with him just days earlier. The two persona the man displayed where irreconcilable with one another and left the young boy unsure what to expect from his new master.

Upon returning to Konoha after finding Tsunade, Naruto had thought the Toad Hermit would once again disappear and had been both shocked and pleased when Jiraiya had asked him to accompany him on his travels as his student. Finally, someone who actually wanted to spend time with him.

In the year since leaving Konoha, Naruto had realised that the Sennin had his own demons (though more metaphoric than his own) which resulted in his confusing behaviour. There were two sides to the Sannin's personality which followed a predictable pattern. They would leave a town and Jiraiya would sober up, noticing Naruto and enjoying his company even if he clearly found it to be somewhat grating at times. He would be friendly and chatty and this would usually be when he would teach Naruto a new technique. At some point, sometimes several hours, sometimes days into their journey, Jiraiya would mention the Yondaime. This was always the turning point and Naruto had realised early on that the former Hokage's death had affected his master more than any other event that Naruto knew of in the man's long and eventful life. At this point Jiraiya would hurry them on to the next inn or town and would immediately begin drinking and womanising once again in the hopes of drowning out the past. Several days later the cycle would begin again.

Naruto could well understand how a person could feel such conflicting emotions but that didn't change the irrationality of his own. Each time the older man disappeared again, forgetting Naruto for days a a time, the young boy resented it, resented the pain it caused each and every time, then forgave him each time he came back because, maybe, this was someone who knew pain like he did.

Now, alone in his hotel room, the futon next to him unused since their arrival four days ago Naruto was once again overcome by the turmoil of his emotions.

Each day he put on a mask more concealing than any ANBU and seemingly invisible to everyone. He'd perfected it early on and now, as his mind was seemingly crumbling around him, he hated himself for being so good at it. For years he had done everything in his power to keep the pain inside but as pain clawed at his chest, at the very edges of his sanity, he wished someone was here to see, to somehow hold him together.

Even the blood trickling down his arm from his shoulder, a bright proof of the pain he had inflicted, was no help. The pain had been too brief, too fleeting and slight to compare to the gaping void in his chest and had left him feeling more helpless than before.

Lifting the kunai again, Naruto focused on the feeling as it sank into the skin of his upper arm, feeling even the slightest snag of the sharp bade as he dragged it to his elbow, cutting through the skin and into the muscle. He needed this pain and the relief he knew it could give, both angry and glad that the Kyuubi's chakra would heal the injury before long, but tonight, no matter how many cuts he made, it didn't seem to help, the hole in his chest merely growing with each failed attempt.

If Jiraiya came back now, Naruto had to wonder, what would his reaction be? Would he even care? Would he want to help or would he simply be too drunk to notice? Not that it mattered anyway, Jiraiya wouldn't be back for days, he was sure and by then any trace of tonight would be gone. The smiling, happy mask and its accompanying yells of determination would be back in place.

Jiraiya would never look too closely, Naruto knew, because, as so many people had told him, he was too similar to another blonde who had dreamed of becoming Hokage. And if there was one ghost that haunted the white haired man, it was the Yondaime.


	5. Legacy

Okay... here I go again! Well done to those of you who've stuck with me this far, I'm impressed by your ability to ignore my ramblings and see through to the story I'm trying to tell :)

This is from Jiraiya's POV and I've made it much more introspective than Sasuke's. Not that that's hard when you think back to the length of _that_ chapter! I wanted to carry on with the theme from the last chapter so I hope it doesn't seem too off topic. I don't want these 'alternate character' chapters to focus solely on Naruto, I want them to genuinely reflect the character themselves, as well as their relationship with Naruto... So yeah, this is what I think of Jiraiya!

This hasn't been betad so let me know if there's any typos etc...

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><p>How could this kid have so much energy? It was exhausting just watching him!<p>

_Maybe I should tell him he's running towards a cliff...? … Probably... The screaming'll just make my hangover worse..._

"Oi, brat! Come back here!" Jiraiya called to the orange ball of energy that was his student, one Uzumaki Naruto.

Ok, so maybe that wasn't fair. In the year that the two of them had been travelling the kid had certainly mellowed out a lot. The orange was less prevalent now, despite still being undeniably present and he'd even learnt to walk places rather than running all the time, something Jiraiya had thought impossible once upon a time.

He had to admit, he was proud of the kid, as much as he tried to ignore that particular feeling. That was slippery slope and one he had no intention of going down. He might _like_ the kid, sure he did. He'd be an idiot to travel with someone he didn't like, after all. But _liking_ didn't mean _caring._ Oh no. He didn't, _wouldn't_, care for the kid. If you cared for someone it just left you open to the pain of losing them and that was something he'd never put himself through again.

He'd known so many bright, smiling faces in his time. Had had too many students.

He'd been prepared to leave the first three, had been waiting for the day since he'd first started training them. After all, he was just teaching them to survive in the war torn county that was Amegakure, he knew it was never going to be long-term though it had ended up being several years that he was there.

His second group of students, his first genin team, had been the worst. Every parent will tell you that they never want to outlive their children. He knew the same was true as a Sensei. Your students become your children, your life. You watch them grow, teach them everything they need to survive on the battlefield and try to give them lessons they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Jiraiya had never imagined those lives would be so short. Not one of them had made it to twenty-five.

When Jiraiya had taken them on he had thought it would have been as easy to stay unattached as it had been with the trio in Amegakure. That had been right up until he had met a certain blonde haired, blue eyed prodigy.

Years later, looking at that man's son, his own god-son, Jiraiya knew that he would never quite get over that loss and that neglecting Naruto all those years, and even now, had been the only way he had known to shield himself from even more pain.

Fate, it seemed, was not on Jiraiya's side. Naruto had all but been dropped in the older man's lap and his infectious personality and easy smiles had torn down all those carefully constructed barriers until the white haired sage had taken him on as his pupil.

There was something else that had changed. Those smiles.

When Jiraiya had first met the boy he'd seen through the mask and seen the pain and loneliness underneath. In fact, if he hadn't, he never would have taken Naruto travelling for so long, would never have separated him from his home and friends. He had known that the genin didn't have anything particular tying him to the village and that, as long as he knew he'd be returning, he'd be more than happy to leave. But still, amongst all those fake and forced smiles, there'd been genuine ones too and they were enough to brighten any day.

They were long gone and Jiraiya couldn't help but wonder why.

Had he been wrong to take Naruto away from Konoha for such an extended period of time? Did he miss his home after all?

Or was it the reality of being a Jinjuriki that was getting to him?

Should he ask? He knew he wouldn't get an answer, the teen would merely brush him off, probably claiming the alcohol and women had addled the older man's mind. Not that it had.

The other problem with asking was that it would cross _that_ line. Alright, he'd admit to himself, he cared about the brat, a hell of a lot more than he wanted to. The kid was like a grandson to him. But if he acted on that, it'd change everything.

What could he do? It didn't seem to matter what he did. If he stuck around rather than going out, Naruto would keep that mask of his in place almost flawlessly and it would get them no where. Worse than that, the more time he spent around the younger blonde, the more he thought about the older one and that was never anything less than painful.

When he stayed away from the boy, it was even worse. Although there'd never be a mark on the boy when he came back (no surprise there), the drops of blood on the bedding or floor or the bloodied cotton swabs in the bin were evidence enough to any shinobi, especially one of Jiraiya's calibre. He accepted the excuses of how it had happened during training without argument while never believing a word.

He knew what the young teenager was doing to himself and, by extension, how he must be feeling to push him to such measures.

He had wondered many times if he should confront the boy but had decided against it each time if only because the difference in the youngster after each of these occasions was undeniable. For a while after, a short while it was true but still better than nothing, those increasingly rare _true_ smiles would be back as would the youth's usual exuberance. Whether this was due to the white haired Sage's return or because of the measure of relief the blonde found in his night-time activities, or even a combination of the two, Jiraiya didn't know, nor would he ask.

Jiraiya wasn't blind, he'd seen the occasional resentful or sometimes even pleading looks his charge would give him when he thought the older man wasn't looking but seeing wasn't the same as knowing what to do and so, they carried on in apparent ignorance of one another's feelings. Each time Jiraiya turned a blind eye it became harder to even _consider_ bringing the subject up but in turn lead to a constant gnawing at his conscience and a growing feeling of guilt.

So many times Jiraiya had asked himself how Minato would have felt knowing how his Sensei was letting down his only child and just what he would have done had he been there. And _that_ was the crux of it.

Maybe one day Naruto would forgive him his ignorance and neglect and understand just why he would _never_ let himself get truly close to anyone again. Sometimes you had enough ghosts already.


	6. Sakura

I promised my friend a lemon in return for some fanart but no matter now much I stared at the five short paragraphs I'd written I couldn't come up with anything (plenty of ideas but no where to start) and this wouldn't leave me alone.

This will probably be the last chapter for this fic, it doesn't seem very popular any more and there's no point dragging it out if that's the case but at the same time I felt I needed to add this one so that I had one counterpart to each Naruto-centric chapter. Although it's a little late this is the partner to chapter four.

Thank you to all of you who've stuck with me this far and have put me on your favourite or alert lists as well as those of you who reviewed the first chapters. A very big thank you to the lovely miss Nako13yeh who's faithfully reviewed each and every chapter, you always make me smile!

Enjoy.

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><p><em>What had she done?<em>

Sakura had been Tsunade's apprentice for over a year now and had worked hard to learn everything her master had taught her as well as going out and learning as much as she was able from books. This had lead to her current, awful realization.

Sakura knew she'd changed a lot from the girl who had first been assigned to Team 7 but looking back on it now she realised that, as inadvertent as her actions had been, what she had done to her blonde team mate had been inexcusable.

Looking down at the text book on her desk, she re-read the section she'd just been reading. Too many of the sentences rang home, each one reminding her of the whiskered boy she had always treated so harshly, with no regard for his feelings. She'd always known he had no family but had never thought past how jealous she was to think of just how terribly lonely she would have been had her parents not been there to welcome her home every day, to scold her when she had done wrong, to praise her when she had done well and, above all, to love her through it all. All things he had never experienced. Instead she had envied him the freedom and blamed him for his loud, attention seeking behaviour.

Now that thought caused tears to well up in her eyes.

How many times had he asked her and the rest of Team 7 to spend time with him outside of missions, whether for lunch or for an extra afternoon of training? How ever many times it had been, she had turned him down just as many, as had Kakashi and Sasuke. Never once had she willingly spent time with Naruto and each time she was 'stuck' on a mission with him she had always made it clear to him just how unhappy that had made her.

And still he'd cared for her. For all of them.

The worst part of all of it was that it had taken a textbook, a _textbook_, to make her see the truth that had been there all along. She called herself a Kunoichi and yet lacked the observational skills to see what was right in front of her until she read it in a text book. The shame of it burned in the back of her throat like acid.

Maybe she _had_ been too young to truly understand what Naruto was feeling but she still felt that she should have been able to comprehend some small part of it had she made the time for him even once. She never had.

The book on her desk was heavy, well read and contained sections on most medical conditions and treatments, all of varying length. The one she was looking at now was one she had begun to read without much interest as the subject was one she hadn't expected to be faced with as a field medic but the entry was a long one and as such seemed to be of significant importance.

_Depression._

Looking at the words staring up at her in black and white she wondered how she had ever failed to see the signs but the truth was just as obvious; this was Naruto she was talking about and that said it all.

Every reason she could think of for him feeling that way, and there were plenty now that she considered it, was also a reason for him not to show it, to keep it all to himself and never ask for help.

_But he tried to. He tried to and we brushed him off._

She could even think of several occasions where one of them had pointed out that he'd turned up for training with more wounds than he had left with the day before and more often than not they weren't the kinds of injuries you would get while training. Rather, they tended to be thin, deep cuts hidden amongst the many less uniform scrapes and scratches that he had received, the same as her and Sasuke, while carrying out their D rank missions. None of them had ever seen them for what they were, even Kakashi-sensei who always spoke about seeing beneath the underneath had merely told the loud-mouthed genin to be more careful in future before quickly turning his attention back to his infamous book

The more the Sakura thought back, the more occasions she could think of: cuts and bandages the blonde hadn't been able to explain, the look that would sometimes appear on his face when she or one of the others would turn down an invitation to spend time with him, days when no matter how hard he had tried he had seemed unable to shake off a particularly glum mood and days when his usual exuberance had been exaggerated out of all proportion until even she had known it had been fake without ever realising the cause.

And then Sasuke had left. She'd known how very much it had hurt her team mate to know that Sasuke had abandoned them of his own volition but instead of trying to comfort him she had asked him to bring the Uchiha back, had let him promise to do so knowing the burden it would put on those too thin shoulders.

He'd failed, of course he had, she'd known before he left the village that he would because Sasuke had already made his choice. She should never have let him go but rather than stopping him, freeing him from that impossible promise she had let him go, knowing that he would fail and how that would make her feel about him. What difference would it make? She didn't care for him anyway...

Now she wanted to find the blonde, tell him how terribly sorry she was, make sure he never felt so alone again and try and make up for all the wrongs she had done him but that was impossible. Neither she nor anyone else knew where Naruto and the Sanin Jiraiya were right now, nor when exactly they would be back, only that the white haired man had intended to return within three years.

Snapping the heavy volume shut, Sakura got up and made herself a promise. By the time Naruto returned from his training she'd be stronger, strong enough to help him bring Sasuke back rather than laying the burden on him. And more than that, she'd be the friend he'd always deserved.


End file.
